Heavy/Scratch: Unnamed evil "Titan" as a steel-mill (W.I.P.)

Discussion in 'Radicons Customs' started by KINGBOTZ, Nov 7, 2013.

  1. Gate0fBabylon

    Gate0fBabylon New Member

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    Wow love the amount of detail put into every piece of the titan.
     
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  2. adrnalyn

    adrnalyn Member

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    Can't wait to see the final masterpiece
    Love the rustworks!
     
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  3. AtlasV

    AtlasV Λ T L V S

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    Still waiting for the awesome final result. Rust effect looks great !
     
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  4. Hoptimus

    Hoptimus How I roll.

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    Bump for a mad genius and this stunning custom!!
     
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  5. 2Sixshot

    2Sixshot Well-Known Member

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    dont worry we will be here to see this till the end
     
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  6. KINGBOTZ

    KINGBOTZ www.KINGBOTZ.com

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    Thanks for the bump! :buttrock  Won't be long now til I'm back on it, finally finished that 2nd Wheelie-commission I was working on so I'm freed-up a good bit again now! I've got about 6 main projects I'm focusing on now, this is in the top-3.

    I really appreciate the patience & faithful-interest in the thread and project itself! At this point I'm pretty disappointed in myself that it's carried along for 5 years now without getting finished, but some other big projects like the 2 Frenzies & 2nd-Wheelie took priority as client-commissions. Between those and work on the road as a PDR-tech, it was really tough finding the time for anything else on the workbench.....but now that Wheelie is done and work on the road has slowed-down a bit, I've got a lot of freedom to finish this and explore a lot of other concepts as well, like the Barcee & Optimus Prime-rifle project. All-in-all I've got about 6 things I'm either working on or about to begin, so it's gonna be some pretty exciting upcoming months! :rock :cool: 
     
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  7. Deadsled

    Deadsled Energon Recovery

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    I’ve got loads of these :poke  if you start slacking :lol :lol :lol 
     
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  8. ubertenorman

    ubertenorman Well-Known Member

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    It's cool. Commissions gotta come first. I think we're all just happy this hasn't become another abandoned project here. Really looking forward to updates!
     
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  9. thiengo

    thiengo Well-Known Member

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    This Project had a end?
     
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  10. WEEGEE

    WEEGEE Doggo priest

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    Christ it's been so long I forgot this even existed.
     
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  11. marvel b

    marvel b Bearer of the Matrix of Smash

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    7 years in and I'm still hyped for this, but sad for the non-info bump.....
     
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  12. Draoss

    Draoss Well-Known Member

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    Holy crap! I cannot wait to see what this looks like when it's done! It already loots like a real Steel-mill playset! That is some superb work!
     
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  13. LZSchneider

    LZSchneider Well-Known Member

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    Cool. We demand a 2021 update.
     
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  14. KINGBOTZ

    KINGBOTZ www.KINGBOTZ.com

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    Nope, still pending! He's about 75% done, had to put him on the back-burner for other commissions & projects that took-priority over the years. Never had a serious-buyer step-up and put a deposit down on it, so it's currently on-hold.

    Yep he's still here collecting dust, waiting to be summoned once again for the final-run of touch-ups & weathering. Batteries are dead in the mini fog-machine for the blast-furnace/arm-cannon, hopefully it still works....

    I agree myself, hard to believe this started 8-YEARS ago in 2013, so much water under-the-bridge it's surreal....

    Yeah he was shaping-up to be the pinnacle-of-evil as one of my greatest-customs ever. The original-buyer that commissioned this had a custom-face & horns made for his head, but there's some things I'd like to still change on the face to him look more wicked & brutal, the subtle-changes to the custom face-mold wasn't aggressive & drastically-different enough than the original-face.... I got a few ideas what to do with that though....

    Well he's pretty much on-hold right now, as well as my current VHS-Ravage project because I'm preparing to move into a bigger & better-place next-month, lots of packing & organizing, it SUCKS.....but it's gotta get worse before it gets better though, this move & change-of-scenery has been LONG-overdue..... Itching to get back on this, and 2-other projects I had going including VHS-Ravage..... But rest-assured, I haven't forgotten about this beast, he will get finished eventually. :cool: 
     
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  15. LZSchneider

    LZSchneider Well-Known Member

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    Cool. Thanks for the 2021 update. I hope life brings you to more soothing waters.

    Also I can't believe nobody has said this yet, but this Transformer is going to look like the map Rust from Modern Warfare and I wish it could be mine.

    Screenshot_20210328-185550.png
     
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2021
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  16. Nevermore

    Nevermore It's self-perpetuating a parahumanoidarianised!

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    So for those curious, I'm kind of an expert on ironworks sites since I have several in my city, including a disused one that has been converted into a public park and is open to visitors. I've also visited several others that are now museums or otherwise open to the public as part of guided tours.


    The main component is the blast furnace itself. Here is a blast furnace stripped of pretty much everything except for the bare furnace itself, located in Fundidora Park in Monterrey, Mexico:
    Blast furnace.jpg

    A blast furnace all by itself isn't any good. It's usually surrounded by a steel frame required for structural integrity, for housing all sorts of supporting structures, and for allowing the workers access to all levels of the blast furnace. Here is a steel frame with the blast furnace inside removed, located in Phoenix West in Dortmund, Germany:
    Blast furnace frame.jpg

    Blast furnaces and steel frames come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. Generally, they were built increasingly larger as time progressed, and technology improved. These are just some German and French blast furnaces from the late 19th and early 20th century:
    Blast furnaces old.jpg

    These are some German, Spanish and American ones from the second half of the 20th century:
    Blast furnaces newer.jpg

    Lastly, these are some of the most modern blast furnaces from all over the world:
    Blast furnaces modern.jpg

    One element which they all share are these huge pipe mazes, which are used to collect flue gas which is generated as a byproduct of the iron-melting process. That gas can either be sent off to a nearby gas plant for creating electric energy, or burned off in case there's more of it generated than currently needed.
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2022
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  17. Nevermore

    Nevermore It's self-perpetuating a parahumanoidarianised!

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    Next up there are the storage yards (or "ore yards") where the iron ore (i.e. the raw material), the coke (i.e. the fuel) and the limestone (i.e. the purifying agent) are stored. Those are typically located on one side of the blast furnace. Whether it's the front or rear side of the blast furnace is a matter of perspective. There is no defined "front" or "back". Typically, ironworks sites consist of multiple blast furnaces that are lined up in a straight row. This allows for a continuous rows of storage yards which can be easily supplied by freight trains.

    These are disused storage yards (with most of the surrounding structures demolished) that are now used as a solar collector, located in Gelsenkirchen, Germany:
    Storage yards 1.jpg

    These are disused storage yards located in Duisburg, Germany. Note the parallel train tracks. (The walkway is a modern addition that was added when the remaining structures of the site were converted into a public park.)
    Storage yards 2.jpg

    These are some storage yards while in use, and filled with ore. Also note the large cargo cranes.
    Storage yards 3.jpg

    Now the next step is getting the ore, limestone and coke from the storage yards up to the top of the blast furnace. There have been several methods employed over the years. Back in ye olden days, the default method was a vertical elevator, which can be seen in some of the photos from the late 19th and early 20th century I posted above.

    Those have long since been replaced by superior methods. The more common of these is the skip hoist, a diagonal shaft through which a skip (very similar to a minecart) is pulled up via cables. Typically, the shaft would be wide enough to allow for two skips going up and down left and right for maximum efficiency (and also to allow for continuous use in case one of the skips or cables needs to be repaired).
    Blast furnace skip hoist.jpg

    There are different methods for pulling up the cables. One way to do it is a pulley system. For this, large wheels are installed on top of the blast furnace's outer steel frame:
    Blast furnace cable wheels.jpg

    Completing the pulley system is the winch house, which, well, houses the winches, and is commonly built on steel pillars on top of the skip hoist for maximum space efficiency.
    Blast furnace winch house.jpg


    An alternate modern method would be a belt conveyor. The advantages of this method are that it is more efficient, allows for the entire process to be automated, and treats the materials more carefully. The disadvantage is that it takes up more space, because a conveyor requires a less steep incline than a skip hoist.
    Blast furnace conveyor.jpg
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2022
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  18. Nevermore

    Nevermore It's self-perpetuating a parahumanoidarianised!

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    The dust collector is a large tank which is connected to the blast furnace through one of the aforementioned pipes. Its purpose is to purify the flue gas (which, as I mentioned before, can be used to generate electricity in a power plant) by removing solid particles. It's usually located on one of the sides of the blast furnace - essentially, wherever the layout allows to build it. There is no "right" or "wrong" for its location.
    Blast furnace dust collector.jpg

    Following up from the dust collector, a gas purification plant (which usually serves multiple blast furnaces) will then remove all the remaining particles from the gas.
    Blast furnace gas purification plant.jpg

    A series of long horizontal pipes will then send the purified gas on to a nearby gas power plant.
    Blast furnace pipes.jpg

    One additional structure that is not mandatory, but can often be found near an ironworks site, at least here in Germany, is a gas holder (also called a "gasometer"), sometimes even two or more of them! These are used to temporarily store the purified flue gas generated in the blast furnace in case there's more of it produced than is currently needed in the nearby gas power plant.
    Gasometer.jpg

    Gas holders can vary in design and size, but the most common type features a cylindrical shape. Some have a fixed height while others use a telescopic design. Those featuring a fixed height will often rival the height of the blast furnaces' steel frames, or even exceed it!


    Meanwhile, back to the blast furnace itself:

    The casthouse (sometimes also called a "casting shed") is a factory hall at the bottom of the blast furnace. Most commonly, it's located on the side opposing the skip hoist or conveyor, though sometimes it's also on one of the sides. Casthouses can vary in length, though I think the general rule of thumb is that the more modern blast furnaces usually have shorter casthouses.
    Blast furnace casthouse 1.jpg

    The casthouse is where the blast furnace is tapped, and the liquid pig iron (i.e. the main product of a blast furnace) is separated from the molten slag (i.e. one of its byproducts). In modern blast furnaces, the pig iron and slag are separately poured into special train cars placed underneath the casthouse. For this reason, many casthouses are built above ground level.
    Blast furnace casthouse 2.jpg

    Rounding off the set of immediate supporting structures are the cowper stoves. These are used for pre-heating the air that is blown into the blast furnace (hence the name, "blast furnace") in order to maximize the heat generated inside. Cowper stoves can vary in shape, size and number, although the default number per blast furnace is three in order to allow for an uninterrupted operating cycle: At any given time, one of them is heating up the air, the second one is blowing the air into the blast furnace, and the third one is cooling down before the next operating cycle. Some sites feature a fourth cowper stove as a reserve in case one of the others requires maintenance or repairs, although I've seen some sites with as many as five cowper stoves for a single blast furnace!
    Blast furnace cowper stoves 1.jpg

    Individual smokestacks for each cowper stove appear to be a feature that can only be found in the United States and Mexico, though not all ironworks sites in the US have them.
    Blast furnace cowper stoves 2.jpg

    Once again, there is no set rule for where the cowper stoves are located. They may be placed in front or behind the blast furnace (again, "front" and "back" are relative terms without a default definition) or to one of the sides, and they may be lined up in a horizontal or vertical line depending on the site's general layout, space requirements, and preferences of the designers. Some sites may also line up all the cowper stoves for two or more neighboring blast furnaces in a single straight line.
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2022
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  19. Nevermore

    Nevermore It's self-perpetuating a parahumanoidarianised!

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    Some more general notes: The general layout of an ironworks site typically reflects its history. Sites that are many decades old and have evolved over time will often have a more confusing layout than those planned and built from scratch: As time went on, existing blast furnaces were not simply overhauled, but demolished and then replaced by new ones with better technology, new blast furnaces were added to an existing site in order to expand production capacities, and eventually, modern technology allowed to build larger blast furnaces that had the same output as two or more smaller ones, thus making the oldest blast furnaces entirely obsolete. This is why you will sometimes see large gaps between two remaining blast furnaces - the ones that were once in between were simply no longer needed, in part because those left standing simply have much better capacities.

    Another historic artifact is the numbering system for a site's blast furnaces (sometimes using letters of the alphabet instead of numerals). Those numbers typically indicate the position of the blast furnaces within a site in the order those positions were first used. If a blast furnace is demolished and replaced by a new one in the same location, it will typically retain the old one's number. This is how you can end up with a site that only has blast furnaces No. 4, 7 and 8 left, of which No. 7 is the newest one.
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2022
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  20. Decepticon Shockwave

    Decepticon Shockwave Heroic Scientist

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    whoah that's going to be impressive...such amount of work
     
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